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The ultimate goal of the online quality control initiatives is to prevent the occurrence of defects or rather to detect the occurrence of defects as fast as possible in order to interfere with corrective actions. Generally, Statistical Process Control (SPC) tools such as control charts can be effectively applied to monitor the production processes and can be used as an indicator for the occurrence of assignable causes in the process which are mainly responsible for the occurrence of defects. Typically, the out of control signals resulted from control charts or other signs of developing defective items that are observed directly through visual inspection necessitate a rapid response from the shop floor operators. Meanwhile, the lack of worker empowerment and poor communication between shop floor workers and engineers as well as managers are mainly responsible for the late decisions and actions which lead to increased defect rates. This paper presents a framework that integrates SPC approaches with worker empowerment practices to enhance the responsiveness toward detected defects as well as preventing the occurrence of more ones. Besides, a case study concerned with the manufacturing of Unplasticized Polyvinyl Chloride (UPVC) pipes has been conducted to demonstrate the application of the proposed framework.

Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) is a proactive approach that aims at designing in quality during the early stages of product or process development. In this paper, the DMADV (Define-Measure-Analyze-Design-Verify) methodology has been applied to an industrial process. The considered application involves cutting tubes to predefined lengths in order to be supplied to custom-made automotive exhaust tube manufacturers. Investigating the process reveals several problems that adversely affect the production. Accordingly, customer requirements have been identified and the Quality Function Deployment (QFD) has been implemented to translate these requirements into technical characteristics. A conceptual design of a compound mechanism for both feeding and cutting has been suggested to overcome the drawbacks in the current practice. A detailed 3D CAD model has been developed, in addition to a prototype that has been manufactured to test the validity of the proposed design. Pilot runs of the prototype reveal that the developed mechanism not only performs its intended task adequately, but also the chances of cutting wrong tube lengths have been eliminated.